Cyclone Asani: Relief team in Odisha; trees uprooted in Andhra Pradesh

A team of 37 members of the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) has arrived in Bhadrak city of the eastern state where heavy rainfall has started due to the effects of cyclone Asani, news agency ANI reported on Monday.

The team leader of ODRAF, Bibekananda Das, said the team has arrived to rescue people if an adverse situation arises.

Besides Bhadrak, ODRAF teams have been stationed in Ganjam, Puri, Satpada, Astaranga, Krushnaprasad, Jagatsinghpur, Rajnagar and Mahakalpara, Odisha government’s special relief commissioner Pradeep Kumar Jena said earlier in the day.

He added that district collectors and municipal commissioners have been asked to make a decision on evacuation, as and when required.

“As it will recurve and move parallel to the Odisha coast from Puri (onwards), the system will weaken into a deep depression on May 12. However, May 11 will remain crucial in terms of moderate to heavy rainfall and high-speed winds ranging between 50 to 60 kmph, in coastal and adjoining districts. Gajapati, Ganjam, Puri, Khurda, Cuttack, and Jagatsinghpur districts will witness rainfall between May 10 and 12. However, we do not think there is any danger of flooding,” Jena told Hindustan Times.

Meanwhile, all fishermen of the eastern state have returned to land, and boat movement in Chilika lake has been halted till cyclone Asani passes.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) in its latest update on Twitter said that the severe cyclonic storm Asani lay about 390km southeast of Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh at 5.30pm Monday, and is “likely to weaken gradually into a cyclonic storm during next 24 hours”.

The cyclonic storm formed over the southeast Bay of Bengal on Sunday morning and intensified into a ‘severe’ cyclonic storm by the evening.

However, the Met department has forecast that cyclone Asani is unlikely to make a landfall over the coasts of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.

Three states of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal are very likely to witness heavy downpours in wake of the arriving cyclonic storm. According to the latest IMD bulletin, heavy to very heavy rainfall is likely at isolated places over coastal Andhra Pradesh, and heavy rainfall is expected over coastal Odisha starting May 10 evening. The same weather will continue over these regions the following day (May 11) too with the addition of coastal West Bengal. On May 12, heavy rainfall has been predicted over coastal Odisha and West Bengal.

Just as rainfall has already begun in Odisha owing to the effects of cyclone Asani, moderate to heavy rain lashed several parts of north coastal Andhra Pradesh on Monday. Downpours were reported in Vizianagaram, east Godavari, west Godavari and Eluru districts. There were also reports of trees and electric poles being uprooted in Narasapuram, Pedavegi, Mudinepalli, Bhimadole and Bhimavaram areas of west Godavari district.

In Bengal, the Met department has issued a heavy rainfall alert in Howrah, Purba Medinipur, North and South 24 Parganas and Nadia districts, located in the Gangetic region of the eastern state, between May 10 and 12.